Symbol Matches

Symbol Starts With

Company Matches

Colleges are learning that small cost-cutting and money-making measures, like charging for printing, getting rid of dining hall trays or selling naming rights for campus bathrooms, can really add up.

Selling naming rights for bathrooms

1 of 6

Would you want a bathroom with your name on it? Some donors are forking over thousands of dollars to get a plaque engraved with their name above a campus restroom -- even though colleges aren't specifically soliciting such donations.

Harvard Law School alum William Falik, for example, donated $100,000 to establish a public service fellowship for law school students. In exchange, he asked to have one of the restrooms in the building named after his father.

"For the sake of whimsy and with a sense of humor, he asked whether it might be possible to have one of the gentleman's lounges (restrooms) in our new building named in honor of his late father," said Harvard Law School spokesman Robb London.

The school obliged, and a plaque was installed next to the bathroom door this January, stating "Falik men's room, Gift of William A. Falik '71, 2012."

The school emphasized that this was a "one-off instance" and said it doesn't plan a fundraising strategy based on restroom naming rights.

And Harvard isn't alone. University of Colorado Boulder has also named two restrooms after donors in recent years.